Ingress protection rating or IP rating (IEC 60529)

IEC 60529 has classified the degree of protection offered by an enclosure against solid particles and liquid. This classification is known as the ingress protection code/ IP code/ IP rating/ index of protection. To ensure the correct protection of the internal components and to suit the environment where the enclosure is installed, these codes are … Read more

Types of Electrical Earthing as per IEC 60364 & BS 7430

Effective electrical earthing plays an important role in safeguarding people from the risk of electric shock and ensures a low impedance path for electric discharges to pass to the general mass of the earth under both normal and fault conditions. In this article, let’s discuss the various earthing systems as per IEC 60364 and BS … Read more

Resistance grounded system

A resistance grounded system or resistance grounded neutral system is one that employs an intentional connection between the neutral and the earth through one or more resistors. In these systems, the damage caused during a ground fault is far less than that caused during a ground fault in a solidly grounded system and the mechanical … Read more

Solidly grounded or Effectively grounded system

In a Solidly grounded system, the neutral is directly connected to the earth without any intentional resistance or reactance in between. Compared to the other grounding systems, the transient overvoltages are held to a minimum when the system is effectively grounded. In an effectively grounded system, ground fault currents will be considerably higher, making ground … Read more

Ungrounded systems

An electrical system that is not intentionally connected to the ground is known as an ungrounded system. Even though the system is not connected to the ground, there exists a connection to the ground due to the presence of capacitances between the live conductors and the ground. Therefore the so-called ungrounded system is actually a … Read more

Neutral-to-Earth/ground Voltage- Causes, effects, and solution

Ideally, the voltage measured across the neutral and the earth/ground must be zero. But sometimes there exists some measure of potential difference between them. Here, in this article let us analyze the causes of neutral to earth/ground voltage, its effect, and how to mitigate it. Note: If you are an electrician troubleshooting your wiring or … Read more

Difference between grounding/earthing and bonding

Earthing and bonding are two terms very closely related but are different. Even though earthing and bonding are meant to prevent electric shock, they have a subtle difference that needs to be understood. This article explains the concepts and the difference between earthing and bonding. Note: The terms earth and ground refer to a common … Read more

Types of grounding

This article discusses several types of grounding methods. The intention of providing the proper ground is to control the voltage with respect to the ground and provide a low resistance path for the leakage charges to pass to the ground. In addition, the ground is used to detect unwanted connections between the phase and the … Read more

Star-Delta starter wiring diagram – Control and power wiring diagrams

The power and control circuits of a star-delta starter are discussed in this article with the help of an actual star-delta starter wiring diagram. You can find the instructions to calculate the ratings of contactors for a star-delta starter circuit here: Star-Delta starter design tool. Further operation in detail can be found here: Star-delta starter … Read more

MCCB – Molded Case Circuit Breaker | Working Principle | Ratings

An MCCB or Molded Case Circuit Breaker is a modular device used to protect a piece of low voltage equipment or circuit from overload and short circuits. Apart from overloads and short circuits, specially designed MCCBs can protect against ground faults or residual currents. They can be used for power distribution, motor protection, and as … Read more